What Are The Drawbacks?
Unfortunately, the drawbacks to manual handling are many and varied. Depending upon the size of the organization or the tax liability, keeping up with a variety of tax notices manually can become overwhelming. Any time there are manual processes, there is a risk that one or more of the following can happen:
1| Margin of Human Error
Notices can be lost or misplaced. They can be left in a jumble of mail on someone’s desk who is on vacation or unexpectedly out sick. If there aren’t appropriate handoff and onboarding procedures when staffing changes occur, there may not be anyone expecting them or in charge of looking for them
2| Time Lost Each Quarter Handling Notices
Many offices are understaffed and overallocated. In the rush toward end-of-period reporting deadlines, it can be easy for the least urgent tasks to get pushed off, sometimes for too long.
3| Little Visibility Into Where Each Notice is in the Process
It isn’t unusual for businesses to receive notices they didn’t expect. They may believe they’ve already been paid and assume it is a duplicate notice. Otherwise, the responsible party may want to research the payment and verify that it was paid and received. Others won’t know what, if anything, is happening on the notice unless the person responsible is there to explain.
4| High Rick of Backlog During Acquisitions
For anyone who has been through an acquisition, the word itself is enough explanation. Even in the best instances, confusion and work backlogs abound as staff positions are reimagined, combined, or eliminated. Do we need to even mention how notices for liabilities can be mired in the due diligence process before the corporate name is changed?
5| Time Lost Each Quarter Handling Notices
Give us a spreadsheet and we’ll show you 20 ways it can be managed. The combination of manual input, formulas, functions, conditional formatting, data input rules, VBA, and more can be very beneficial for the one person who creates the spreadsheet-based system, but a nightmare for the unfortunate person who inherits it or stumbles across it unwittingly.
6| Legal Liabilities and Risks
No matter how legitimate the excuse, it won’t be good enough for the taxing authority. They are there to collect on taxes due and if they don’t get payment or response, they will escalate. That could mean significant financial penalties or harsh legal remedies that could damage your brand or impede your ability to operate.
To learn more about the the Drawbacks to Manual Handling use this link Manual Handling vs Automation eBook
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